Luce awoke with a gasp; her hand running to her chest as if she could stop it from beating out of her chest like it was threatening to do. That dream.

It came rushing back at her with blinding speed. The graveyard, the school, Penn. The stories Penn had told her, the stories that seemed so real, and the boy waiting for her at the edge of the graveyard. Penn.

"Luce?" Nora's voice drifted from Luce's bedside. "You okay?"

No, Luce was far from okay. That dream, she thought dizzily. It was…there were no words to describe it. It felt like a dream, but it also felt like much more than that. Almost, like a memory. And Penn.

"You can't be late today," Nora told her from her spot at the windowsill, with a bottle of sunshine yellow in her hands. On one hand her nails were all yellow and the other hand half of them were pink. "So, how was it?

"How was what?" Luce yawned tiredly, wondering what time it was and if she could go back to bed. She'd come home around midnight but was still tired.

"Adventures in babysitting," Nora chocolate brown eyes were awake and alert, a dangerous combination this early in the morning, and Luce saw she was already dressed in a jean skirt, a pair of bright red leather boots and a yellow cashmere sweater. Oh no.

"We have class!" Luce yelled, sitting up quickly in her bed, narrowly missing the top bunk where Nora had already made the bed. Fighting her comforter Luce jumped to her feet and ran to her dresser where she pulled out the outfit she'd picked for her first day of college classes.

"I woke you up early so you wouldn't be late," Nora replied coolly, and pointed to her plastic pink alarm clock that glowed 7:04. "You've got time to get dressed and do all your Luce things, and while you do that you can explain to me why you had to go baby sit on a most important day ever."

"Oh?" Luce turned away from her friend as she rapidly changed into a pair of dark jeans and a bright red shirt with a dark black jacket over it, then set to work on her hair. "What I miss?"

Nora placed the nail polish down and leaned back against the window, her hand rushing to her heart as she faked swooned. "Why, I do declare. My Miss Lucinda had quite the number of gentleman callers last evening."

"Gentleman callers?" Daniel knew that she was babysitting that night, but did he really go back to talk to Nora and see if Luce had come back early? Luce grabbed her brush and started to run it through her long hair.

"I do not know what is in that water in Texas but you have got to hook me up with some," Nora explained, straightening up and gazing at Luce with excited eyes. "First Daniel shows up, then Max and Luc-"

"Max showed up?" Luce couldn't believe it. She barely knew Max, and she didn't want to get stalked by his crazy ex-girlfriend or her spies.

"Why yes he did," Luce's roommate continued, swinging her long legs back and forth. "He wanted to know if you would accompany him to see his band play in some garage." She blew her auburn bangs out of her eyes and sighed. "Luce, I told you. Spies are everywhere."

"I would've said no anyway." I wonder what Penn would have said about Max, she thought then shook her head, Penn wasn't real, and she was just in a dream Luce had. Though, she wanted her to be real.

Nora nodded appreciatively. "Good. Now, about Lucas."

Luce's bright hazel eyes grew wide. "He showed up too?"

"I told you that you had a lot of gentleman callers!" Nora exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "You should have seen how upset he was that it was just me here. It was like someone dumped a whole tsunami on his parade."

Luce turned and looked at her friend seriously. "You had sugar today didn't you?"

"That is not the point!" Nora cried, running towards Luce and grabbing her by the shoulders. "You need to deal with these three, that's right three, boys very soon, or I'm sure shit is going to hit the fan. Just because we are in college does not mean that the drama stops."

Knowing that Nora never cursed unless something was big, Luce knew she would have to listen to her friend and take her advice seriously. "Okay, I'll deal with them after class."

This seemed to satisfy her roommate. "Good." She turned and clasped her hands over her mouth when she saw the clock and raced over to her bed where she grabbed her favorite bright purple purse that jingled as it moved and tossed it over her shoulder. Luce knew it was filled with everything from nail polish to a lock picker and more. Gotta be prepared, Nora always told her.

"I've got to get my text books," Nora called over her shoulder as she ran to the doorway. "If I don't I'm screwed for the whole semester. Oh, wait." Nora turned and looked over her shoulder with a smile. "You were talking in your sleep, Luce. Something about losing a pen? You might want to bring extras today just in case, alright?"

She was gone before Luce could say anything to her once the door shut silently behind her, Luce sat down onto the bed, brush still in hand and thought about her dream.

Penn had seemed so real, too real to be just a figment of her imagination, and she kept referring back to an even older dream that Luce had had, but forgotten. It was strange, very strange.

Luce sighed, dropping her brush on her bed and arranging her curtain of hair around her shoulders. I wonder if I can-

There was a knock at the door and Luce's head snapped up, her thought finishing in midsentence. She stood up, somewhat happy with her ebony curls and walked up to her front door where the person had knocked again.

Someone wants my attention, Luce thought curiously and when she opened the door, she froze.